Page 52 of Her Reluctant Hero
Chapter Nine
Alex hoped Danes had sent them on the right path when he’d told him Saldana’s cousin, the one who laundered his money in Florida, the one whose security guard Bella had tried to seduce, also owned a place in the strip-club district.
Alex offered Isabella a donut as they sat in her little rental car in front of PT’s Club. He’d picked up a half dozen on the way. He loved donuts and could easily eat a dozen, but Isabella hadn’t eaten anything since—well, he couldn’t remember. She hadn’t even eaten the chocolate bar he’d brought her last night. He could see the strain on her face, the lost weight. A far cry from the starving woman in the jungle.
“You need to eat something.”
She made a face at the donuts. “No thanks.”
“You want me to go get breakfast tacos? Sausage biscuits?”
“We might miss something,” she said softly, her eyes trained on the building.
“You’re not going to be any good to me if you get sick.”
“If I eat that, I’ll get sick.” She nodded toward the sticky box.
“Suit yourself.” He sat back, plucked a donut from the box and shoved the whole thing in his mouth, then washed it down with lukewarm coffee. “Could be a long day. I don’t think these guys exactly keep bankers’ hours.”
“I don’t want to take any chances.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but she shot him a look.
“Do not say anything nice to me. I never know who you are when you say something nice to me.”
He lifted his hands in surrender, then licked the glaze off his fingers. “You got it. Kid’s gone, you’re never going to see him again, all your fault.”
“Alex.”
“That’s what you wanted me to say, right? Feed your guilt?” He leveled a hard glare at her. “Show you what kind of rotten person you are, confirm what you already know.”
She shook her head and turned back to the building, her shoulders slumped.
“You’re just a stripper, you’re not smart enough to do this, no man will ever see past your body, no man will ever know how strong you are. Should I keep going?” he asked when she glanced at him warily, her eyes huge, her face pale.
“I’m not strong.”
“I said you weren’t. Because no one as weak as you could have made it out of that jungle. Oh, right, I brought you out. You needed me. You need me now. If Santiago finds you before you find him, you would be dead. He won’t appreciate you being smart enough to figure out where he is and what he’s doing.”
“I’m not smart enough,” she murmured, turning away again.
“He’s hiding, Bella. However he’s getting his drugs into this country, he doesn’t want to be found.”
“How did things come to us? The supplies he ordered?” she asked.
“Near as we can figure, air drops.”
“Less likely to happen here,” she mused.
“We’re looking at ships, which seems most probable, so we have people watching docks.”
“Just in Miami?”
He looked at her sharply. “All over Florida.”
“Just Florida?”
“What do you know?”
